The Crude Truth Ep. 106 Jim Holmes, CEO at LFS Chemistry | Oil & Gas Industry

In this episode of The Crude Truth, host Rey Treviño welcomes back Jim Holmes of LFS Chemistry for a conversation about balancing family life with the demanding oil and gas industry. Jim shares his journey from vacuum truck driver to leadership, highlighting the importance of mentorship, family, and work-life balance. He also discusses LFS Chemistry’s commitment to developing eco-friendly products for the oil sector, like scale inhibitors, that both perform effectively and reduce environmental impact.

The conversation shifts as Jim delves into his passion for jiu-jitsu, where he draws connections between the discipline and techniques of martial arts and business. Jim shares how the sport, introduced to him by his son, has helped him maintain both physical and mental strength. Alongside Rey and Kristy Kerns, they explore how the values of structure, respect, and responsibility learned through jiu-jitsu apply to entrepreneurship and life.

Highlights of the Podcast

01:29 – Preproduction and Guest Introduction

03:52 – Work-Life Balance in Oil & Gas

04:30 – Jim Holmes’ Career Story

06:21 – Fatherhood and Work-Life Lessons

07:58 – Advice from Mentors on Balance

10:14 – Family Connection through Shared Activities

12:03 – LFS Chemistry’s Environmental Focus

16:10 – Environmentally Friendly Scale Inhibitors

21:51 – Slowdown in Q4 for Oilfield Services

24:25 – Jiu-Jitsu Journey & Life Lessons

29:22 – Competition & Learning to Tap Out

30:51 – Respect, Structure, and Aggression Release

33:26 – Soft Society & Changing Times

34:48 – Monopoly as a Metaphor for Entrepreneurship

Please reach out to Jim Holmes on Linkedin

Please reach out to Kristy Kerns on LinkedIn

The Crude Truth Ep. 106 Jim Holmes, CEO at LFS Chemistry | Oil & Gas Industry

Video Transcription edited for grammar. We disavow any errors unless they make us look better or smarter.

Rey Treviño [00:00:00] Fun and jovial is the best way to say that the oil and gas industry gets through every day. We talked to a amazing sponsor of the Crude truth and returning guest on this episode of The Crude Truth.

Narrator [00:00:11] In 1901, at Spindle Top Hill near Beaumont, the future of Texas changed dramatically as like a fountain of fortune. Thousands of barrels of oil burst from the earth towards the sky. Soon Detroit would be cranking out Model TS by the millions, and America was on the move thanks to the black gold being produced in Texas. Now more than a century later, The vehicles are different, but nothing else has truly changed. Sure, there may be many other alternative energy sources like wind and solar and electric, but let’s be honest, America depends on oil and entrepreneurs. And if the USA is truly going to be independent, it has to know the crude truth.

Narrator [00:00:54] This episode is brought to you by LFS chemistry. We are committed to being good stewards of the environment. We are providing the tools so you can be to. Nape Expo where deals happen. Air compressor solutions. When everything is on the line, Air Compressor Solutions is the dependable choice to keep commercial business powered up. Sandstone Group. Exec Crue. Elevate your network. Elevate your knowledge. Texas Star Alliance. Pecos Country Operating Fueling Our Future.

Rey Treviño [00:01:29] Well, thank you, everybody, for tuning in for another episode of The Crude Truth, Im already smiling? The preproduction of this episode.

Kristy Kerns [00:01:38] Awesome chair.

Rey Treviño [00:01:42] I just so excite.

Jim Holmes [00:01:45] So what happens. When the whiskey at ten in the morning.

Rey Treviño [00:01:47] 10 05. 10 05. Come on, We got to that. Kristy, how are you?

Kristy Kerns [00:01:52] I’m fabulous. How are you?

Rey Treviño [00:01:54] And is a great morning. I tell you what, we have been super busy. We have been getting our face out there a little bit. We’ve been just networking up a storm and drilling up a storm lately. I don’t know how you do it. You keep keep going.

Kristy Kerns [00:02:10] Back to coffee,

Rey Treviño [00:02:11] lots. And today I’m excited to bring them back on. A returning guest now for officially your third time. Your catching up could be I don’t know who’s going to be the five timers club, the first in the five timers club. But you get caught up to JP, Keith Stelter, and I think Brianna Johnson of all been on 3 or 4 times now. So we got to five times. At some point, whoever comes on for the fifth time, I’m getting the jacket for like, let’s go. And I send out like, just like that.

Jim Holmes [00:02:42] Like a master’s jacket.

Rey Treviño [00:02:42] Yeah, Yeah. We’re doing.

Kristy Kerns [00:02:44] Now

Jim Holmes [00:02:46] We can come up with something a little more creative.

Rey Treviño [00:02:48] Our guest, Jim Holmes of LFS Chemisty. Jim. How are you, Jim? Wow. Wow. Jim.

Jim Holmes [00:02:54] I think there’s the 1005 whiskey,.

Rey Treviño [00:02:56] That is Jim. How are you?

Jim Holmes [00:02:58] Doing great. Great to be here.

Rey Treviño [00:03:01] Well, thank you for coming in Dallas for this episode.

Jim Holmes [00:03:03] Absolutely.

Rey Treviño [00:03:04] And I know we we did the one in at Nathan Houston back in February. And then the first time he came on was on our other great studios in Fortwort. So thank you so much for coming to the flagship studios.

Jim Holmes [00:03:16] Absolutely, it’s beautiful up here.

Rey Treviño [00:03:17] It’s nice.

Jim Holmes [00:03:18] Great view, great setup.

Rey Treviño [00:03:21] Yeah. They got our whiskey here. Just flowing. Yeah,.

Jim Holmes [00:03:27] Maybe maybe.

Rey Treviño [00:03:31] My gosh. How are you doing? What is going on in your world?

Jim Holmes [00:03:34] Doing great. It’s a Yeah. Never a dull moment in the oilfield.

Rey Treviño [00:03:37] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:03:38] You know, that oilfield translates in the personal life. We’re actually talking about that a little bit before the show that it’s two big families and trying to blend those two families and keep it all moving forward and working is is is exciting.

Rey Treviño [00:03:52] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:03:52] And challenging. And and that all depends on what you’ve got going on at home and what you have going on personally or professionally.

Rey Treviño [00:03:58] Well, I mean, and like you said also, it’s like, you know, the oil and gas is a lifestyle and, you know, you have to blend them together to where that’s the true work life balance is like this whole 50%, whole 50% at work about that’s not real, you know, is.

Jim Holmes [00:04:13] Not real.

Rey Treviño [00:04:14] Yeah. And you’re somebody that that does the true balance in such a great way. I mean for those of you out there that have never listened to you before, you know, Jim Holmes, LFS chemistry in two seconds. Go.

Jim Holmes [00:04:30] Been a long time in this business. You know, really wouldn’t even be here without without the family support. So I started really? When? Late teenager early 20s. Driving vacuum trucks, you know, trying to trying to earn a wage and go to school and progressed, you know, quite rapidly through the through the industry and met a lot of fantastic folks that really kind of opened doors and showed me the way and you know it. One of those people that I don’t ever get to talk about enough is actually my father, who wasn’t oil and gas ended up in oil and gas. Later in life, kind of when I was coming up into it was one of the guys that really opened a lot of those doors and said I should go for it. So, you know, there’s there’s a lot to be owed to that. And, you know, my early life, my dad was a traveling salesman, so he had to do the whole how do I balance professional and personal with three young boys at home? And somehow he did it. And I guess that. You know, my subconscious kind of stuck with me that, you know, you got to work hard to get up, put the hours in, you got to show the drive and the in the momentum. But at the same time, you got to take every chance you get. Be with family. And that’s I can’t say that I’ve always done that. Early Oldfield career and early family. I definitely did not do that. And we can go into all kinds of stories about, you know, coming home to a one year old daughter who doesn’t really recognize you. And he’s quite heartbreaking. But, you know, you listen to some people around you, you grab on to some mentors and and they tell you that it is possible to take a minute away and make things still happen. Yeah. And, you know, from that point forward was really a, you know, what are what are the priorities. Right. Again, you mentioned we have two families. How do you balance both families and keep everybody happy? Right. You know, you you have very limited amount of time with both.

Rey Treviño [00:06:21] You know, just listening to you right now. That’s something that my my father literally argues with me about is go pick up your son. Go do that, because he has the same exact story that when he was, you know, in the 80s that he came home one night, then my two year old brother was asleep in the crib. And he goes, that’s what he looks like. And after that, he says he slowly started doing things differently. And granted, you have to put in the work before that that we never recognize. Okay. And but that’s something he’s like, no, no, no, I’ve got this. You go take care of this. And so that’s it’s a it’s such a hard thing in a balance that you have to take and for you to recognize that, especially at such a young age and be a father. Right. You know, I mean, one two years old is like, okay, because, I mean, you’re always talking about like whenever I talk to you and I like to give you a call, Jim, what’s going on? And I you know, I ask you questions and well, but it’s always fun to hear you talk about how you’re doing all these different things with your family and using that with your work and you’ve even got time for your own personal life. So, you know, anybody out there that that Zephyr listening that has any questions about oil and gas and how do you do a true work life balance? I want to say LFS chemistry talk to Jim and I mean, I’ll do a cheesy plug there for you to do something other than.

Jim Holmes [00:07:46] Love it.

Kristy Kerns [00:07:47] So what did you find Like, what were some of the the pinpoints that your mentors told you to actually find balance? Like what stuck with you?

Jim Holmes [00:07:58] Well, some of it. Some of it was. Actually health driven. We can talk about physical health. We can talk about mental health. You know, you you wake up 3 or 4 times in the middle of the night and as checking emails all the time. And it’s feeling like you always have to be right there on top of everything that’s happening. 24 seven, that’s it’s never taking any personal time. You know, when I talk about those years coming home to go, my daughter was very young and not really recognizing me. And, you know, you open the door and you’re expecting this level of excitement to see you and they turn around, run the other way because it’s almost like a stranger walking in the door, you know, Then you. You know, you. You’re going to the doctors and you’re trying to figure out some some things that are going on with your with your body and your mind. And literally it’s you need that that personal relationship in your life. Right? You you have a family for a reason. You have a you have a spouse for a reason. You have kids for a reason. And you should cherish every minute you get with that because when you do that. Takes an immense amount of pressure off of you, you know, and then, of course, you slip back into it on occasion. Right? For me, I found a really nice balance there where I was getting spend a ton of time with the family. I also was spending a lot of hours working. Then you go through a phase where travel gets a little bit chaotic and you’re traveling all over the world and spending, you know, 200 plus days a year in hotel rooms. You realize that you’re slipping right back into that same that same routine. And this is not a healthy place to be. So. Refine the travel. Decide that you’re going to get physically healthy. Of course, I’m a big believer that we can all do better in that area. As much as I’d like to think I’m in really good physical shape. I know there’s a lot of room for improvement. So all of those things take a level of anxiety off and then of course, you throw in something like Covid. Nine months after you start a company and invest everything we’ve got right back into that company, and you you feel this mass pressure again and again, that’s when you lean on those those couple of mentors and really good friends. And and of course, you’re your family. You know, Covid wasn’t all bad for for that. There was a month or two of a lot of stress and anxiety and then you know, you’re right back at it and. Yeah. Got a lot of great time with it. I mean, that’s for sure.

Rey Treviño [00:10:11] Yeah.

Kristy Kerns [00:10:11] Life doesn’t stop starting because of that area.

Jim Holmes [00:10:14] You know. And now being blessed, we’re talking about it just before the show that. My daughter and I actually get to fly to D.C. here in a couple of weeks for, you know, So I get to support her in her dance competition. You know, she’s she’s 15 now and going on 32. And. You know, it’s every day I see her and my son, for that matter. And, you know, I compete jujitsu and train jujitsu with my son as a way to to connect even more with him. So trying to balance all that out is is a little bit challenging with with work, but it’s it’s incredibly rewarding.

Rey Treviño [00:10:50] I mean, you know, your your your journey is just one that everybody I think, you know and that’s why I’ve asked you to come back on again because having you on just you know, you always are just talking so positive and able to share things in a way that that everybody truly, truly understand. And I just cannot thank you enough. You know, as we are, you know, moving into the year, you guys have been just so busy with your LFS chemistry. You all been like adding more and more individuals, adding more to your company, adding more clients in your chemical base has also been getting a lot more environmental friendly throughout the year. And that’s, you know, one of the most proud things I can say. First of all, thank you. And I probably should open with that saying, thank you so much for being a sponsor of the Crude Truth. I cannot thank you enough. And it means a lot. And, you know, but what also is so proud for me is that you guys are environmental friendly. You know, we’ll put out posts sometimes that people are like, my God, what are you doing? You know, like, are you supposed to be doing that? And it’s like, no, no, it’s all the environmental is safe. And so, you know, I’d like to kind of highlight the newest product that you guys have been using out there out in the oil and gas field and putting back into Mother Earth. That doesn’t hurt Mother Earth.

Jim Holmes [00:12:03] Absolutely. So there’s a that’s pretty long list. Yes. You know, certainly when our company was founded in 2019, that wasn’t the ultimate vision to focus on environmental. Binomial friendliness or stewardship, if you will. Right. The oil fields historically been known for for Gimme, gimme a product that works that’s economic. Yes. I don’t really care where it came from. It’s going right back down into it. You know, an oil well. Right. It’s this is where most of these problems came from to begin with. So when you look at the various synthetics out there in man made products that are usually synthesized from a petroleum product and there’s forever. There was a lot of jokes in the industry, you know, like. Can’t we pump diesel right back down into an oil well anymore? That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to most of us. But when you step back and look, you’re passing water tables and you’re you have a lot of surface considerations to worry about. What we found throughout. Several of us on our team. And, you know, Neil Hayes is a big part of this and Darren Oswald, a big part of this, and then our incredible sales and operations team. But what we realize is over all of the years we’ve been doing this is there’s never been a focus on creating very functional, high performing chemistries that are also good stewards of the environment. A lot of the products the oil field buys are imported from other countries, maybe China, maybe India, maybe some other countries. And you don’t really know what goes into that. Right. It’s. You can actually tie some of those conversations right back into the conversations around battery technology and EVs. Where’s it all really coming from? Right. It’s these you sit back and look, you say, man, these really aren’t that great. So for the for the Globe. You know, it might be great here, but it’s not great over there. And chemistry’s no different. We found a way back in 2019 and 20 2020 really start focusing on high performing chemistries that are also environmentally friendly, meaning they come from very environmentally friendly feedstocks, right? So they, you know, we’ve got partnerships with various co-ops and councils here in the United States. So why not take byproducts from agriculture and create high performing chemistries from those? So, you know, there’s still petroleum. Molecular structures within agricultural products. So when we when we talk about environmentally friendly, they may still be a hydrocarbon at heart, but even turbines from orange oil or a hydrocarbon in a sense, right? So how do you take those which we deemed to be very environmentally friendly? Convert those into very functional chemistries, but also be economic? So again, it goes back to our our company’s mission is to provide value added chemistries. We have chemistries we’re working on right now that are they may be five years down the road before they become economically viable. Right. We can create the most amazing thing on the planet. But if nobody’s willing to pay for, it, doesn’t matter. So we’ve had this big conversion over four years of taking synthetic products off the shelf and replacing them with environmentally friendly products. We’re really proud to say that a vast majority of our feedstock comes from North American sources. That’s awesome. Which is very important to us that we’re not just importing unknown materials on one container ships from all over the world. So, you know, I don’t want to pick on one product necessarily, but we’ve got some really unique. For example, a couple of unique skill inhibitors coming to market here pretty soon that are environmentally friendly and that’s a chemical. Group that’s normally not perceived as being environmentally friendly at all. Right. So you’re dealing with fast, you know, phosphates and phosphates and, you know, a lot of things that can be pretty nasty. And we’re replacing a lot of that now. A couple of those a be be commercial here this year. And that’s an incredible testament to what our our guys in R&D and in commercialization and.

Rey Treviño [00:16:10] In the share like, you know, as you’re saying, like, hey, usually these are environmental friendly. What what does what is the process in what what are these chemicals going to be used for exactly in the industry?

Jim Holmes [00:16:23] Sure. So the ones we were just talking about or for scale inhibition, either downhole on surface and flow lines and tape batteries, they can be used in drilling all the way through reseal completions and production. You know, the big markets for the Scanlan Hoovers are going to be on the production side because that’s where you have the most scaling issues. We’re working right now to develop a line of scale inhibitors that can be applied during a frack operation but have tremendous benefit for the production too. So most liquid scale inhibitors that are pumped during a frack operation are only good for push production, right? They only work for a few days. Maybe. Maybe a couple of weeks. You’re lucky. Maybe a lot. But once you’ve kind of flowed back, all the water that you pumped in or vast majority of you flowback or scaling it. How do we place A. Dry scale inhibitor that’s got a delayed release mechanism farther into the reservoir with the prop it and have that last say for six months or nine months or a year. We’ve got those emerging technologies now. We’re actually pumping them now. It’s too soon to say how long they’re actually going to last and every single well’s different. You know, this right, is, as engineers will tell you all day. We control for wells that should be the same or pad and all four are completely different. So we don’t know what the end results that are going to be. The lab tells us that it should be very long term results, you know, but that’s a it’s a it’s a dynamic situation. You know, are you going to flow the wells back and what do you expect those results to be?

Rey Treviño [00:17:56] Well, I know that these chemicals that you’re working on, I think they’re going to be huge for the future of the industry because, you know, in Texas alone, we have over 100,000 idle wells. So for those out there, I don’t know. These are wells that operators like ourselves have. They’re not shut in. They’re not producing. But we have them on the books and we have to do something with them. And obviously, economically, it’s better for us to put it back online and produce it, add more oil to the, you know, the production side of things here in America. And I think no matter what happens this election cycle, oil and gas and the existing production that we have is still going to be so key considering we’re not drilling as many new wells as as we really should be right now. You know, I want to ask you that question also is. I don’t want we talked in February. We had a very good outlook on the year. We’re now halfway through the year. And I want to kind of get your take on the industry and you know how you think everyday going as a service company because God knows that are we nickel and dime ICMP companies, we nickel and dime the heck out of you guys.

Jim Holmes [00:19:00] That’s the that’s the constant battle. And and I’m glad you asked the crystal ball question that nobody can answer. No. It doesn’t matter how. Many people I meet with or talk to around the world, it’s it’s the question that no one can ever really answer beyond next month. Yes. So I’d like to we actually just had this conversation yesterday where we had a couple of meetings up here in the Fort Worth area yesterday, and we’re actually talking about forecasting and future planning, at least to finish off this year until we get into our next meeting where we’re going to plan next year, which is. The most difficult thing in the world to do in that oil and gas sector is what is next year look like? Well, I don’t know. Don’t know next year, don’t know what Q4 is really going to look like. You know, you kind of have to get into it to really figure it out. I think for our company, we’re going to see some pretty good stability. The products that we provide in the industry to the clientele that we currently have are perceived as high value products. So as long as they stay active, we should have some really good activities. You know, at yesterday’s meeting, somebody referred to it is sticky, right? Once you’re once once we get our chemistry in and it’s in the value as proven, it’s it’s sticky, it stays. Now, that’s not to say that we don’t have to earn every single application. You know, the sales teams work on every single. Well, it’s never a given in this industry. And that goes for any of the service companies. You know, if you’re a frac company, you’re you’re going after every single well, even some of the longer term contracts, which we all know aren’t real contracts, they’re they’re more of a pricing. I’ve got you agreeing. You know, but the minute you screw up, you can be sitting on a shelf or the minute another company comes in, I can track your well for cheaper mentality than you’re fighting for it again. I think. Couple of folks I’ve talked to recently think they’re they’re going to wind down a little bit this year. Some of that’s due to the election and some, you know, unknowns out there. We don’t really know what the markets are going to do and that. Believe it or not, for people in oil and in oil and gas, the the global markets and indexes play a big role in what we’re going to do. They’re great indicators where we think oil’s going to go and pricing. And in consumption, right? Consumer demand is a big part of that. So when consumer demand starts retracting in other industries is probably headed our direction as well. You know, what does that mean on the global stage? You know, do we go from 100 million barrels a day of consumption to 98? You know, that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but 2 million barrels a day taken off the market is a lot of oil.

Rey Treviño [00:21:41] Yep.

Jim Holmes [00:21:43] You know, so then then we see a decrease in price in futures. And we’ve got to be ready to, you know, have a few we and B say we’re just not going to frack you more.

Rey Treviño [00:21:51] Well. Yeah. And so so that is something that you all are preparing for that is possibly due to slow down for here towards the end of the year.

Jim Holmes [00:22:00] Yeah. And it’s pretty sick. Like, you know, I’d say it’s been normal in the oil fields history for the all of us side to slow down in Q4. Typically in kind of a holiday season, if you will, a November through January. Everybody kind of comes back at the end of January and it’s like, okay, well, we’ll start get busy in February. And then, you know, historically, I’d say Q2 and Q3 are always our busiest quarters. On the service. On the service, at least for us. That’s why there’s also a very important move for us to get more involved in production and resale because those don’t follow those same cycle.

Rey Treviño [00:22:34] Right, Right.

Jim Holmes [00:22:35] Once a wells producing the empties need to keep them producing. So the more we can shift and transition into the production side of the business, the healthier our business will go. You know, we will be reporting these giant Sawtooth financials will hopefully reporting a little bit, study a little bit more steady. Financials

Rey Treviño [00:22:55] haven’t really.

Kristy Kerns [00:22:56] anybody Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:22:58] Looks like my personal. Bank. Around the Amazon delivery.

Rey Treviño [00:23:02] Yes, but. That was a heavy Amazon.

Jim Holmes [00:23:06] Yes,.

Kristy Kerns [00:23:07] Exactly.

Jim Holmes [00:23:09] We in our neck of the woods that my wife and I joke about it, we call our wellness check. because. If there’s not an Amazon package, there might be something wrong.

Rey Treviño [00:23:17] that money coming in.

Kristy Kerns [00:23:21] every day, right?

Jim Holmes [00:23:22] You just drive down the street in the in the old neighborhood, you’re like, I should go check on Bob. There’s no package out front.

Kristy Kerns [00:23:31] My thoughts are pretty bad, actually going on out there.

Rey Treviño [00:23:37] Well, speaking of deliveries, you showed it. You probably have a bottle of whiskey today. Let’s. Let’s switch gears. What is up with this bottle of whiskey that you’re on?

Jim Holmes [00:23:48] You know, you’re invited me on. We love sponsoring the show and love being a part of it. And I just figured I bring a little a little gift that we can toast to you later. I mean,

Kristy Kerns [00:23:54] tell something with, Jane. I mean.

Rey Treviño [00:23:56] I. Yeah, you know, it’s.

Jim Holmes [00:23:59] It’s a fantastic bottle For those of you that haven’t tried it. This is not a platform. I’m not associated with. Many people.

Kristy Kerns [00:24:06] For that. Just play with play around.

Rey Treviño [00:24:10] I do not have an. Instagram account that I get paid on from your. Bottle. So we don’t have to worry about any of that. It’s just a fantastic whiskey now that you can enjoy at any point. Maybe we’ll toast one here in a few minutes.

Rey Treviño [00:24:23] Okay.

Jim Holmes [00:24:25] And we’ll. We’ll kick back. And have some more conversation.

Rey Treviño [00:24:26] I love it. Well, speaking of more conversation, you mentioned you just a little while ago, so I want to get off a boiling gas here for a minute. Well, there’s been times where I’ve seen you and you have a black eye.

Jim Holmes [00:24:37] Yes.

Rey Treviño [00:24:39] And I mean, you know, two years ago, you think you’re stuck at a bar fight or something like that and, you know, didn’t call anybody? Nope. You’ve been doing jujitsu and you told it to me like this on the phone a couple of weeks ago. And it makes perfect sense because, you know, you go play a little rec sport here. You know, the four year old will play some soccer or something. Know you’re out there just exercising, having a good time. You’re out there with that mentality of I got to win. I’m getting about butt beat, literally. Yes. What the heck made you want to do this?

Jim Holmes [00:25:12] So I. I grew up wrestling. Yes. So and then I took a lot of years off. Had some back problems and lost a couple of this my lower back and you know and then work gets in the way and. But then you know, you wake up one day and you’ve got a you’ve got a six year old son who’s that’s going to be his sport. And he he took to it. We tried him in a bunch of different sports and martial arts in general. He loved karate and kickboxing and then jujitsu just kind of really it bit. You know, he had a almost a passion for it at six years old. But it it was exciting. He was not big on the team sports at a young age. It frustrated. And that frustration. He took it out on the field. You know, if it was a soccer game or a baseball game, it’s kind of like Marge passing me, you know, or no, I don’t want to pass. It’s like. Okay, well, let’s get you on to something that’ll humble. But.

Rey Treviño [00:26:07] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:26:08] You just kind of clicked with him, and he’s fantastic. And I’m the little wiry kid. You don’t want to let him get a chokehold on you because your your Adam’s apple won’t feel right for about a month. Anyway, he took to it. And then, you know, after 3 or 4 years of that, I’m sitting there watching him training us. And if I’m not careful, I’m going have a ten year old that can beat my butt. How do I avoid that?

Jim Holmes [00:26:34] You know, I need to I need to make it to at least 18. And it makes sense. And I have nothing to lose at this point.

Rey Treviño [00:26:38] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:26:39] So I you know, and then the other part of that is I was taking into jujitsu as much as I could. And then there was an adult class right after the competition team, which is the team that won. I was like, I’m already here. I loved this concept as a sport anyway, when I was. They’ll give it a try and get back into it. And I. I picked up a lot of bad habits from wrestling that you don’t want in jujitsu. And I, you know, had to kind of mentally block some of that stuff out and. Took me about a year of training and I did my first competition as an adult in jiu jitsu. And then it was it was just game on from there.

Rey Treviño [00:27:16] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:27:18] You know, and it’s it’s a fantastic sport. Yes. There is the occasional missing fingernail black eye. What do you lip swollen?

Rey Treviño [00:27:27] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:27:27] Ear folded over and. A little bit of map burn in places that are hard to explain.

Rey Treviño [00:27:34] Yeah. Yeah. No, you were just knocking that out of the park, literally. Or else you’re getting knocked out. Is that. Yeah. Yeah. But it also shows on, I think, your drive that you have in your in the industry of chemicals because it is cutthroat and your drive as a person is like, no, I’m here to win and we all really need to take that approach. Especially being entrepreneurs. Right? Because, see, I mean, I would think so. I know you do it because you get in there sometimes and you’re like, What’s the plan? What is this? What’s going on?

Kristy Kerns [00:28:08] Not supposed to top

Rey Treviño [00:28:10] Well, that’s it.

Kristy Kerns [00:28:10] that you think of it. Well, maybe idea. Yes. In it to win it, you have to every day the mindset in it to win it no matter what you’re in. And the the whole I like how you said that you had to train your mind basically from wrestling to grappling. It’s very, very different. And that.

Jim Holmes [00:28:29] Yeah, the whole we’re in a robe and being able to get choked. From. Your own uniform is is something you have to have really, really understand.

Rey Treviño [00:28:38] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:28:39] You know, you can go against guys that are half your size and. And they can beat you in a heartbeat. Yeah. You know, one of our coaches is actually headed off to School of Mines this Saturday. Tomorrow he leaves for School of Mines. So he’s like, he’s 18. Maybe he’s almost 19. You know, we go and coach, you know, across the board.

Rey Treviño [00:29:00] Okay.

Jim Holmes [00:29:01] This, guys are maybe 150, 160 pounds soaking wet and just in destroy 95% of the people in the adult class. And it’s you know, but he’s been doing it since he crawl, probably so, you know, but the speed and the technique, there’s a big focus on technique. Right. And I think that translates into into a lot of other aspects of life.

Kristy Kerns [00:29:22] Yeah, sure.

Jim Holmes [00:29:25] We have guys in there that focus on strength and we have some other guys that focus on stamina. But if you don’t have the technique and the discipline. Guys with the technique and the discipline are going to are going to win it every time. Also another part that I really had to learn in my first opticians is that you can’t go out there and just go. I can. Overpower you.

Rey Treviño [00:29:41] Yes.

Jim Holmes [00:29:42] You know, and that also translates to business. You never want to just overpower. You know, it’s using technique and and discipline and and also known. When the when they go out, you have to win.

Kristy Kerns [00:29:55] The tappin out.

Jim Holmes [00:29:57] Yeah. I mean. As an adult competitor, you learn that when somebody gets into a certain position that it’s you’ve got this.

Rey Treviño [00:30:03] Then.

Jim Holmes [00:30:04] You got the better of me.

Rey Treviño [00:30:05] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:30:06] You know, and again, that that also translates to into home life. And in professional life.

Kristy Kerns [00:30:11] a lot of kids I know that they karate or jujitsu, they’ll do that just for structure. Parents will put that in them for structure discipline. If you have kids that are ADHD, anything like that, it does help balance that for them for, you know, and prepare them for their like journey, which is very inspiring to see the transition. So yeah, just to get your little guy in there. We will see. Yeah, I think that’d be cool.

Rey Treviño [00:30:33] I think so.

Jim Holmes [00:30:35] Yeah. It is definitely a structured sport. If you don’t show respect to the professors and the coaches and and even some of the elders. I wish there were pictures of on the walls. And, you know, it’s. It’s not a fun place to be when you disrespect any one of those.

Kristy Kerns [00:30:51] But I think that we’re we need that. Yeah. So regret is so lacking in this day and age with children and young adults. I think that’s super empowering. Yeah. The respect factor is.

Jim Holmes [00:31:03] You know, it’s you can also look back and say, you know, when when I was in grade school, elementary school, whatever, whatever you may call it, all the way through junior high middle school. You know. Boys are boys. At the end of the day, there has to be a release of aggression. There has to be a way to to get that out, you know. Back in my day, you got in a little tussle at school. You got to get fight. It’s no big deal. Right? Maybe the parents got involved and it was a stern talking to and, you know, maybe a woman at some point she needed it, which was often, you know, and they don’t have that these days. There’s there’s no rules. So that’s you know, a lot of people today think of that as bullying. And it could certainly can turn slights both.

Rey Treviño [00:31:43] Yes.

Jim Holmes [00:31:44] Hundred percent. And and definitely not a proponent of bullying.

Kristy Kerns [00:31:47] No.

Jim Holmes [00:31:48] You know, oftentimes back in my experience, it was not bullying. It was just, hey, we have a disagreement. You know, I need to flex a little bit here. Yeah. And we’re going to take care of this.

Kristy Kerns [00:31:57] And then your boss and that’s the line. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I didn’t. That’s okay.

Rey Treviño [00:32:00] Yeah. And then you’re best friends

Jim Holmes [00:32:02] Jitsu gives us a lot of that. It gives my son a lot of that. Some of his best friends are at jujitsu. They’re not necessarily at school and it’s you know, they. Game. Face comes on, they they take out their aggression they they learn and then afterwards it’s high fives and playing video games.

Kristy Kerns [00:32:18] that’s actually a very, very empowering.

Rey Treviño [00:32:20] Yeah.

Kristy Kerns [00:32:22] So a lot about.

Rey Treviño [00:32:24] it really does. I mean we’re at a time now where, you know the hard times made hard man right? And you know, the hard man made tough times and say goodbye that the other day when we were looking at some trucks the other day and and just some of those fleet trucks. Right. So they’re nothing fancy. But the tailgates on the new trucks still come down slowly. You know, they’ve got all these little, you know, footholds that are where you can do that. And, you know, and they’re all no, no, no work trucks anymore. I’ve roll up windows. They’re all at least power windows, power locks. And I’m like the fact when the tailgate just slowly came down, I mean, I remember telling you to we all feel that when you slam you, you might lose a finger. Okay, we’re sore. I mean, you get these guys out there, these little light trucks and all, and we looked up and some of it, you know, you get the remote so, you know, have a truck. They might have that one. But. But you know that the tow truck comes out, the tailgate comes down and the click of a button.

Kristy Kerns [00:33:26] Yeah.

Rey Treviño [00:33:27] And I’m like, Yeah, I mean, like, we’re really in a soft time and we’re we need more structure and responsibility, but also that respecting, you know, that that person you mentioned is like kids today, you know, on the TV shows or get way off this. But so how TV shows on the family shows they’re the smart ones and the parents are the stupid folks. And it’s like, how did how did that happen to where, you know, in the early 90s, you know, the shows were the funny ones about the Kids on Full House or the Urkel kid, but the Dads are all those shows. Even Bob Saget was probably one of the worst guys there is. You know, on that TV show, you know, when the time came, he was a dad. Yeah. You know, there was none of this. Hey, you know, you girls can.

Jim Holmes [00:34:10] The cast is right. It is?

Rey Treviño [00:34:12] Yeah.

Kristy Kerns [00:34:13] Or you know.

Jim Holmes [00:34:14] Was great for the TV show?

Kristy Kerns [00:34:18] But I thought

Jim Holmes [00:34:22] of the. Greatest dad son. Kind of world game.

Kristy Kerns [00:34:24] Industry. Yeah.

Rey Treviño [00:34:25] Yeah. No, they got one that he’s sitting there with his son and he goes, I think I’m not going to go to college. You look after you, you get to get a job. He goes, I mean, he’s got the monopoly money, right? Here’s the other bugs. Okay? So you got to pay for a car. You got to do this, you know, like.

Jim Holmes [00:34:38] And there’s the girlfriend, right?

Rey Treviño [00:34:40] Yeah. Yeah. You want a girlfriend? Yeah. Yeah.

Kristy Kerns [00:34:45] quiet.

Jim Holmes [00:34:46] Yeah, It’s a great life lesson. I still deal.

Rey Treviño [00:34:48] Yeah. And, you know, and I think playing Monopoly is actually something that’s very important to be doing because it’s a way as like, as entrepreneur as those three are, you have to take those risks. And I heard somebody say this the other day and you can’t go live collecting $200 in order to jail. You know, collecting $200 is making that W-2 paycheck. So you need to invest, even if it’s in the cheesy stuff on that first row with the goal to own Boardwalk and Park Place so that people are paying you to be there. Yeah. And, you know, we’re not doing that as a country anymore. We’re just trying to, you know, skate by. Yeah. And

Kristy Kerns [00:35:29] I see.

Rey Treviño [00:35:29] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:35:31] And I wonder if we’re entering a time. You know, for generations now it’s always been. I want my, my kids to have a better life than I had. It was always the mentality or.

Rey Treviño [00:35:39] Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:35:40] Great Depression. All the way. All the way until now. I would say. And you kind of sit back and you watch what’s happening in the in the world today and you wonder if we’re kind of shifting that, right? Like there’s this sense of pacification, like, I’m fine with where I am. I don’t need anymore. I’d rather go do these other things and, you know, have fun. Which big fan of fun and Russia fun. But you know, you also people afford fun. Yeah. And, you know, it’s it’s I even see it in my kids right now. You know, I mean, if I gone too far with this, you know, instead of making them really earn everything that they’ve got, you know, like some I know I had to it was nothing was ever given.

Kristy Kerns [00:36:21] No.

Jim Holmes [00:36:22] You know, but and I say it was never given but we had a great life, a great upbringing. I’ve got no complaints about it. Certainly some ups and downs. But, you know, it’s and I think that’s really molded me into who I am today. And maybe, you know, maybe I need to take a step back and say, you know what? You want to go to dinner tonight? But I think we have to earn it a little different way.

Kristy Kerns [00:36:44] Now we Talk. Yeah, we talk. I mean, taking them, I would take them longer on my bike and go and McGrath. I mean, I’m a girl. You’re on my bike. You know, I’ve going to make 20 bucks if I want to buy something. You got to make that money. Sure.

Rey Treviño [00:36:57] Yeah, and that’s the thing. I think that a lot of people are just not getting.

Kristy Kerns [00:37:01] It or haven’t.

Rey Treviño [00:37:02] And then you talk about doing better than do next generation. I’m going to bring those trucks into it again. You know, and the reason why is a work truck now is costing 65 to $70,000. Okay. The work truck back in the day was $5,000, you know. Yeah. 1980. Yeah.

Jim Holmes [00:37:19] The standard cab five speed.

Rey Treviño [00:37:21] Yeah. I mean.

Jim Holmes [00:37:22] Six gasoline saddle gas tanks.

Rey Treviño [00:37:24] Yeah. But now it’s like, how are you doing? Better. I mean, you know, like. Yeah, it’s like, you know what? And the other part is we can’t stop earning a dollar and not making money. Earning a dollar because none of us make it. The only ones that make it are the guys at the at the Mint. Right. And so we no matter what the government tries to tell us how much they take, it’s like I’m not going to stop doing what I’m doing and working hard to earn that living. You know, you you hire people to do a job. They earn that living. And I think anybody that wants to work hard to do that should not be penalized. Yeah. You know, but I want to do this. I want to break into this bottle. Okay. Okay. And then I’m going to do. We’ve been doing Kristy. I’ve been doing these fun little like quick, quick question and questions don’t answer. And we’ll do that and we’ll call it a day.

Jim Holmes [00:38:14] Thank you.

Rey Treviño [00:38:15] But while while you’re opening that work, you people find the LFS chemistry.

Jim Holmes [00:38:20] As with most companies you can find us on. On the. Great interweb at www dot LFS chemistry.com we’re definitely all over LinkedIn and can always reach out via phone or any number of emails. Probably the best email to reach out to would be sales at LFS chemistry.com. Pretty simple. Pretty straightforward. And somebody will answer that.

Rey Treviño [00:38:44] Okay, good. Well there you see this window. Widowed Jane.

Kristy Kerns [00:38:49] Went down. We’re not going down through the window.

Jim Holmes [00:38:54] 15 year blend. Let’s see. Let’s see what this is all about.

Rey Treviño [00:38:58] You know, that’s funny that you’re doing this because of her. You’re ready. You going to do it, though? Love it.

Jim Holmes [00:39:05] Almost made it. Practice my. Shuffleboard skills. I later.

Rey Treviño [00:39:12] I wake up and I’ll be out on a tray. Cortez Which I think you’ve got to tray some of the the whiskey guy and that. Well, what’s a book you’ve been reading right now?

Jim Holmes [00:39:23] Well, that’s true. Question. I’ve kind of had a little bit of a

Kristy Kerns [00:39:27] What the hell? I didn’t get a cup. Come on. Just kidding. I just kidding.

Jim Holmes [00:39:31] We got to get

Kristy Kerns [00:39:33] Give me the bottle.

Jim Holmes [00:39:36] Can we get a straw?

Kristy Kerns [00:39:39] Something out. Now. Go ahead

Rey Treviño [00:39:41] This is all the questions right there, ladies and gentlemen.

Jim Holmes [00:39:47] Now, there’s a. You know, some self-help books and inspiration books. I haven’t read one in a little bit. You know, at home, we’re going through a little bit of a shift right now. So I’m kind of focusing back on faith. Okay. So, you know, the Bible has become ever important. And I’m absolutely just loving the fact that my daughter’s diving right in. So, you know, my my baby girl, who’s 15 now, goes to church, I think three times a week and, you know, is really reconnecting or connecting initially, I should say, about, you know, with our Lord and savior. And I’m absolutely pumped about that. So we as a family, we’ve been kind of diving back into that aspect of life.

Rey Treviño [00:40:27] I wasn’t. Cheers of that because that’s been something I hear lately. Here.

Jim Holmes [00:40:31] Cheers.

Kristy Kerns [00:40:32] Cheers. .

Rey Treviño [00:40:36] That’s Good. Are you streaming anything right now?

Jim Holmes [00:40:41] No.

Rey Treviño [00:40:43] What’s one of your favorite restaurants?

Jim Holmes [00:40:47] Ooh. I’m a tasty Texas guy.

Rey Treviño [00:40:48] Okay.

Jim Holmes [00:40:48] I mean, take me to a steakhouse, especially one where I can pick my own stake out. And that’s if I need to go to a restaurant. I’d always rather just go get it.

Rey Treviño [00:40:58] Yeah. Speaking of cook at home. Yes. I’m doing this on TV. You had to. Last month or two months ago, you had several people, including our good friend J.P., Warren at your house, and you grill out some good steaks.

Jim Holmes [00:41:13] So that was. Yeah, wasn’t at my house. It was part of our. We have an Exec Crue get together with a bunch of executives and it was one of the other guys houses. But yeah, I brought over some wagyu steaks and. You know, it’s always a little bit interesting when you’re asked to cook on somebody else’s grill.

Rey Treviño [00:41:30] Yes, a little nerve wracking, right, Because you don’t know it, you know?

Jim Holmes [00:41:33] You know, there’s this big debate about. Amongst. 6 or 8 executives about should we cook this or should we eat out? And, you know, at one point you can ask, you’re like the $400 worth of steaks right here. That’ll be better than we’re going to get it in.

Kristy Kerns [00:41:49] On without a shadow of a doubt know.

Rey Treviño [00:41:51] So I will always, always. Take it out and slice it. And

Rey Treviño [00:41:54] I would ask you to cook like. Like had you brought me the Wagyu steaks, I would be like, here, please, you And and as a man to another man who’s grills.

Jim Holmes [00:42:05] Hung on, it’s a big honor,.

Rey Treviño [00:42:07] You know. But but but my that it would be a get it. So yeah

Jim Holmes [00:42:14] and I and I love. That I mean give me a a smoker and a grill I’m not about as happy as a get something. I would just never shut them off and just cook stuff all day. Yeah. I think that’s one of the things I’m going to do here in a few years if I get the opportunity retires, I’m a great one. His Instagram account is around barbecue. I know there’s a million of, but I just feel like I should do it.

Rey Treviño [00:42:34] You would be great.

Kristy Kerns [00:42:35] I think that.

Rey Treviño [00:42:36] Would be great. And I think I think the owner of Real News is just bachelor with you. He’s ready for you to do your own show here.

Jim Holmes [00:42:45] Let’s do it. I mean, if I can have a whole show. Around drinking whiskey beaten me. Doing jujitsu. God, that’s about as manly.

Kristy Kerns [00:42:51] I think you could do.

Rey Treviño [00:42:52] Anything you want. Yeah. Yeah. Then the last question. Do you have a favorite sports team? Well, I mean, he’s supposed to be rather fine. He’s supposed to work hard. It’s

Jim Holmes [00:43:04] a big step. Away from basically all things professional sports. Okay. I lost a lot of interest in professional sports a few years ago, several years ago now. And I haven’t really gotten back into it some of this time. You know, it’s a big investment to get into a favorite team. If I had to pick a say, a nflx team is going to be the Chiefs. And that’s only because I am from Kansas. So, I mean, I grew up as a Kansas City Chiefs fan. Baseball. I’d say I’m an Astros fan. I don’t have any affiliation to the Royals. And we just didn’t didn’t do much of that. You know, the Chiefs were a big deal back in the day with, you know, the time when Joe Montana came over with the Derek Thomas and Christian Aguirre, the Bo Jackson, you name it, it was all there again. So there we live, not far from a lot of those athletes. So I get to see him as a kid out on the bike riders out there and you’d see Bo Jackson out there. Yeah. So I think my my favorite sports team right now is going to be my son and daughter. And they’re competitive sports. You know, so if I get the option and the time to watch a sport, it’s going to be one of them.

Rey Treviño [00:44:09] Well, Jim, I cannot thank you enough for the whiskey. I cannot thank you enough for continuing to support the Crude Truth. Thank you for sharing the outlook that you have on the rest of the year in the industry and for being the mentor and the role model that you are in the industry. So thank you, as always, for coming on this this. Thank you for coming out as always, and thank you for coming.

Jim Holmes [00:44:33] Been great. Looking forward to the next one.

Rey Treviño [00:44:34] Do it again.

Jim Holmes [00:44:35] What is going on with your hair?

Kristy Kerns [00:44:37] I don’t know.

Rey Treviño [00:44:43] And we will see you again on another episode of The Crude Truth.

Narrator [00:44:50] Again, the crew Truth would like to think today’s sponsors LFS Chemistry, Nape Expo, Air Compressor Solutions Sandstone Group, Exec Crue, Texas Star Alliance, Pecos Country Operating and Real News Communication Network.

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